It might appear relatively straight forward during a sunny Sunday morning shift, but when the sun goes down and the rain starts pouring, things soon get much trickier with stops and routes far more difficult to judge. Missed or inaccurate stops will cost you come the end of the shift, while any damage to your bus also comes out of your pay packet. Again, getting from point A to point B isn’t all that tricky, but doing so without receiving the kind of penalties that will hit your bank balance is a different story altogether. From opening the doors, switching on the windscreen wipers, managing your lights and taking control of the ticket machine, every element of the actual job is present and accounted for….well, beyond the risk of drunken violence and verbal abuse I suppose.ĭespite all these additional requirements though, it’s still the actual driving that provides the primary challenge. The amount of action you are actually required to take while out on the shift is optional, but this really does offer a true simulation of the role. Progression isn’t incredibly tricky, but the draw provided by the game’s wealth of unlockables does encourage successful and accurate driving during your shift. Once you have enough coin in the bank, you can then expand your routes in the city, purchase and upgrade new buses and hire new staff to drive the additional routes. All of your actions are linked to your overall level at the end of the route with your success at each element of the role linked to how much you are subsequently paid. Sure, you can drive like a maniac, miss your stops and avoid taking payment, but you’re not going to make it far in your career if you do so. Handling the buses themselves is easy enough with the weighty vehicles providing enough challenge without ever feeling genuinely unwieldy, but with troublesome travellers, variable weather conditions, traffic and timing issues to take care of, there is always plenty to do at any given moment, and with success at every level of the role linked to your paid progression, all of your actions feel admirably consequential. The pace is invariably leisurely, but with so many minor challenges to keep your mind on, it never feels like a passive experience. Still, if you can get past the decidedly dated visuals, StillAlive Studios’ move from PC to console gaming brings with it plenty to like. The buses themselves look great and benefit from a huge amount of what I suspect to be very accurate internal details, but those details often serve to highlight the inconsistency of the game’s visual design. The still images don’t actually look that bad, but in motion, this is a dull, largely lifeless affair, one that, from an artistic perspective, could do with a lot more character (perhaps the bland visuals represent a genuine commitment to recreating the role), and from a technical perspective, one that suffers from horrendously wooden characters and poorly realised surroundings. There are minor issues throughout, but in terms of its core gameplay and structure, it’s a largely sound experience, one that is only soured by some genuinely budget visuals. It won’t be for everyone of course, but the solid challenge, engaging sense of progression, mostly decent handling and wry sense of humour combine to make this a wholly unique console gaming experience. But yeah, there is something about the unique pace and gentle challenge that make this an oddly compelling experience. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this at all, I mean, c’mon, it’s driving a bus for heaven’s sake. Who the hell wants to drive a virtual bus by the defined rules of the road? Well, me it turns out. Heck, if you want to be a……bus driver? Wait, who wants to be a bus driver? There is nothing wrong with it as a profession of course, but you might as well be playing Office Administration Simulator. Whether you want to be a fighter pilot, a space marine, an elf or a professional footballer, video games have you covered. Video games might be the finest form of escapism in modern society.
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